Lakhasly

Egypt launched its 2050 National Strategy for Climate Change, aiming to improve citizens' lives, ensure sustainable economic growth, and protect natural resources. The strategy, built upon Egypt's constitution, Sustainable Development Strategy 2030, SWOT analysis, and existing sectoral plans, addresses challenges like Nile water scarcity, declining groundwater, soil salinity, and extreme weather events. Further challenges include unplanned urbanization, arable land encroachment, population growth straining energy resources, and limited donor funding.

The strategy's five goals are: 1) achieving economic growth through reduced greenhouse gas emissions via renewable energy, energy efficiency, and sustainable consumption; 2) building resilience to climate change by protecting citizens' health, assets, and ecosystems, and enhancing disaster risk reduction; 3) improving climate change governance through role clarification, international ranking improvement to attract green investments, and policy reforms including an MRV system; 4) strengthening climate finance infrastructure by promoting green banking, innovative financing mechanisms (e.g., green bonds), private sector participation, alignment with Multilateral Development Banks, and building on existing programs; and 5) promoting research, technology transfer, knowledge management, and public awareness. Despite contributing less than 0.6% of global CO2 emissions, Egypt recognizes its vulnerability. The government allocated approximately $211 billion for mitigation and $113 billion for adaptation programs until 2050. The strategy aims to integrate climate action into Egypt's economic and development goals, reducing CO2 emissions.

CAIRO – 20 May 2022: Egypt unveiled its national strategy for climate change 2050, based on five main goals to improve the citizens’ quality of life and sustainable economic growth and preserve its natural resources amid a number of environmental challenges.

The formulating of the strategy is based on a four-way approach; the Egyptian constitution when it comes to ensuring a clean and decent life for them, Egypt’s Sustainable Development Strategy 2030, SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis, and Integration of strategies and sectoral plans.

Before drawing up the state’s strategy, the government identified challenges that stand defiant against its sustainable development, top of which is a threat to Egypt’s water share of the Nile, a decline of the underground water, the increase in soil salinity and the increase of water stress.

Acute fluctuations of the weather that resulted in torrents, storms, high temperatures, and high levels of the sea are other challenges that face Egypt. In addition to this, unplanned housing areas, encroachment on the arable lands, and the increasing population rates which deepen pressure on traditional energy sources are other problems. Also, limited access to financial resources from donors is another challenge.

Egypt Today shed light on the five goals of the strategy.

The first goal

The first goal is achieving economic growth by reducing greenhouse emissions in various sectors; this objective would be carried out in the energy sector by increasing the share of all renewable and alternative energy sources. In addition to this, this goal can be attained via reducing emissions from fossil fuels, optimizing the use of energy, and adopting sustainable consumption and non-energy activities.

Adopting the mechanism of rationalizing the energy consumption would be applied by gradual removal of subsidies on electricity and oil. This mechanism is another tool to achieve this goal.

Under this goal as well, the state would implement an interactive map for the vulnerability to climate change risks (2100).

The second goal

Building resilience and adaptability to climate change and mitigation of negative impacts associated with climate change is the second goal that the government strives for.

This goal would be achieved by protecting the civilians’ health from the negative impacts of climate change; minimizing losses and damages that may occur to the state’s assets and its ecosystems; protecting the state’s resources; establishing infrastructure resilient to climate change impacts; implementing concepts of reduction of disaster risks; preserving and expanding the green areas; enhancing the assistance to women to adapt to climate change.

The third goal

Improving the governance and management of work in the field of climate change is the strategy’s third goal.

To attain this goal, the government would determine the roles and tasks of the beneficiaries of this strategy such as the concerned bodies and ministries. Egypt would work on improving its position in the international rankings regarding climate change action to attract more green investments and finance.

The necessary reforms of the sectoral policies to accommodate the interventions required to mitigate climate change impacts would be adopted by Egypt to achieve this goal.

The government also would strengthen institutional and procedural arrangements such as adopting the Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) system to collect data on emissions, and mitigation actions.

The fourth goal

It boils down to improving the state’s infrastructure for climate finance. The government has set five points to achieve this goal; firstly, it would promote local green banking and green credit lines such as increasing project facilities related to climate change issues.

The second point aims to promote innovative financing mechanisms that prioritize adaptation actions, like green bonds. Thirdly, the private sector would participate in financing climate activities and promoting green jobs. Fourthly, the government would adopt an alignment approach to Multilateral Development Bank (MDB) to finance climate activities. Fifthly, it would build on the success of activities financing ongoing climate programs.

The fifth goal

Promoting scientific research, technology transfer, knowledge management and raising awareness to combat climate change is the fifth goal of the strategy. It aims at enhancing the role of scientific research and technology transfer in mitigating and adapting to climate change, besides facilitating the dissemination of climate information and knowledge management among government institutions and the citizens.

This objective can be achieved by promoting awareness of climate change among the various stakeholders like policy-makers, decision-makers, citizens and students.

In his speech at a conference on the launching of Egypt’s National Strategy for Climate Change, Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouli said that although Egypt’s share of global CO2 emissions does not exceed 0.6%, Egypt is one of the countries most vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate change on many sectors, such as coasts, agriculture, and water resources. health, population, and infrastructure.

The government has allocated a financial package to set a number of projects, at a cost of about $211 billion for mitigation and $113 billion for adaptation to programs until 2050.

“The strategy enables Egypt to plan and manage climate change issues at various levels in a way that supports the achievement of the country's desired economic and development goals via adopting ways to reduce CO2 emissions,” said Egyptian Minister of Environment Yasmine Fouad